Teen Prescription Abuse On The Rise

After years of working in our criminal courts, I really thought that I had heard almost everything. That was until I was told about “pharming.” 

“Pharming” is a verb used to describe a teen practice of raiding the home medicine cabinet and then tossing the pills into a punch bowl at a party where party guests can grab a handful of the pills to swallow, usually with alcoholic beverages. I am the mom of two teens and am gravely concerned about this and teen prescription drug abuse, so I wanted to share it with the Los Gatos Patch Community.

As adults we know of the danger of mixing drugs and alcohol or mixing various drugs: the combination of unknown quantities of prescription and over-the-counter medications can cause kidney or liver damage as well as confusion in the emergency room if medical attention is sought. This could waste valuable life-saving time as the doctors try to determine what the teen has ingested and how to best counteract the effects of the substance. I couldn’t believe kids would be dumb enough to risk something like this, so I checked with our local law enforcement officers, and they are very aware of this practice.

While some critics may claim that pharming is solely a media creation, no one can counter the fact teen use of un-prescribed prescription and over-the-counter medications for recreation is on the rise.

But why would teens do this? Studies have revealed that some teens use medications to party and get high while others may use the medications to “manage” or “regulate” their lives, to focus in school or to relax if they are under too much pressure at home or at school.

It would be easy to put on blinders and ignore this subject, burrowing in and believing that nothing like this could happen in our idyllic little Town, since Los Gatos is so small and has a highly involved and educated resident population.  But it can. 

National studies have revealed that as many as one in five teens say that they have taken a prescription drug without having a prescription for it themselves. Furthermore, in 2007 the National Institute on Drug Abuse conducted a study and found that 2.7 percent of eighth-graders, 7.2 percent of 10th-graders, and 9.6 percent of 12th-graders had abused Vicodin and 1.8 percent of eighth-graders, 3.9 percent of 10th-graders, and 5.2 percent of 12th-graders had abused OxyContin for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.

The danger in this practice is that our teens may believe that since a doctor prescribed the medication it must be safe, or because the store sells the medicine over-the-counter, it can’t cause damage.  But this line of thinking ignores the fact that mixing the substances or taking the medication without a valid medical reason could cause severe, permanent damage, even death, as is evident in the case of some high profile Hollywood stars in the past few years. 

Not only is this practice unsafe, but using someone else’s medication is also illegal. California Health and Safety Code section 11350, et seq, prohibits possessing specific "controlled substances" without a valid prescription. A "controlled substance" is a drug or chemical whose manufacture, possession and use are regulated by the government under the United States "Controlled Substances Act".

So, what can you do to prevent illegal prescription drug use or pharming?  Partnership for a Drug Free America suggests that parents take the following steps to protect their children:

• Educate yourself on what teens are doing.  www.drugfree.org has lots of great advice, support for parents, answers and resources.
• Know your child’s friends, and their parents.
• Lock up all medication, prescription and over-the-counter medications.  Count and monitor the number of pills you have.
• Talk to your kids about the dangers of medications and try to keep an open dialog.

I hope that parents of teens who read this article will take some precautionary steps to protect all of our children. It is the right thing to do.

I welcome your comments and questions. Please feel free to contact me at jsylva@da.sccgov.org. I am your community prosecutor!